After realizing his talent wasn't weak, Chen Mo felt much better and quickly headed into the distance.

Jiangcheng School was vast, with many buildings, but now it was all reduced to ruins, completely unrecognizable from its former state.

In many places, grass had grown taller than a person, and Chen Mo couldn't understand how it grew so fast.

Chen Mo walked cautiously for over ten minutes when suddenly the ground ahead shifted.

Soon, a massive rat emerged, and upon seeing Chen Mo, it charged at him swiftly.

"Such a big rat!?" Chen Mo was startled by the sight of it.

The rat quickly reached Chen Mo, opening its mouth to bite him.

Chen Mo reacted swiftly, stepping back half a step to dodge the rat's bite, while simultaneously stabbing his dagger into the rat's head.

-16

A damage number appeared above the rat's head, indicating that Chen Mo's strike hadn't hit a vital point.

The rat reacted extremely quickly, its long tail whipping at Chen Mo, knocking him back a few steps with a burning pain.

-8

A red number also appeared above Chen Mo's head.

"When did rats start using their tails to whip people?" Chen Mo's mouth twitched as he calculated in his mind.

"100 Health Points, 10 Defense, 16 Attack Power."

If it weren't for his dagger, he might not have been able to defeat it.

Although his combat ability wasn't weak, this rat was more troublesome than a zombie. Its tail was so fast that he couldn't even react before being hit.

Chen Mo quickly retreated. Rats were social creatures, and he didn't know if that was still the case in the game, but he couldn't be too careful. If a bunch of rats suddenly appeared while he was fighting, he'd be in serious trouble.

Retreating to the area he had just passed should be free of rats.

The rat clearly wasn't planning to let Chen Mo go. As Chen Mo retreated, it quickly pursued him.

Both sides continued to fight while retreating, with both their health bars steadily decreasing.

Chen Mo kept searching for weak points to attack: the head, neck, eyes—all tried, but none triggered a weak point attack.

He initially thought the eyes were a weak point, but when he stabbed at them, the rat simply closed its eyes to block, and it didn't result in a weak point attack.

Ultimately, Chen Mo had to give up and increase his attack frequency.

Finally, on the seventh stab to the rat's head, its health bar was finally depleted, while Chen Mo's own health had dropped by more than half.

The rat's body fell to the ground and then transformed into a white light and a black light, both merging into Chen Mo's body.

"Congratulations on killing a Level 1 Demonized Rat, gaining 1 Experience Point!"

"Talent Plunder triggered, successfully plundering 1 point of Energy from the Demonized Rat!"

Two messages simultaneously echoed in Chen Mo's mind, with both experience and talent triggering.

When he killed Zhao Kai earlier, he only got energy, not experience.

It seems killing people doesn't yield experience, but it does allow for energy plunder. In that sense, this talent is quite domineering.

This even made Chen Mo consider going back to kill people.

Killing people was much easier than killing monsters.

But it was just a thought; if he really dared to do that, he'd be beaten to death in no time.

Checking his status, he had 32 Health Points left.

Chen Mo didn't immediately use the Red Potion. This potion could restore 100 Health Points, and he'd only lost a little over forty points, so using it now would be wasteful.

It would be more cost-effective to use it when facing the next monster and his health was nearly depleted. This way, one Red Potion could support him in killing two Demonized Rats.

Chen Mo returned to where the previous Demonized Rat had appeared and took a few steps forward. Soon, the ground not far away stirred again, and another Demonized Rat emerged from underground.

"Sure enough, there are quite a few Demonized Rats here. Good thing I lured that rat back to fight earlier, or I might have alerted other rats," Chen Mo thought to himself.

"I can handle one, but if there are two, I'll have to run."

Just as Chen Mo was about to deal with this rat, footsteps sounded from behind him.

Chen Mo frowned and turned to see a group of six people approaching.

Although the school was large, with tens of thousands of people spread out, the chances of running into each other were still high, especially since Chen Mo hadn't gone too far.

The group also saw Chen Mo, and the leader spoke up, "Hey, need some help? That rat looks tough; you might not be able to handle it alone."

"No need," Chen Mo replied flatly, clutching a small red bottle, ready to drink it at any moment, while turning sideways to avoid exposing his back to them.

Although the game had just descended, and the chances of people killing each other for monsters were low, it was better to be safe than sorry.

At this point, the rat charged at Chen Mo, opening its mouth to bite him.

With experience from the first rat, Chen Mo handled the second one more calmly.

He stepped back half a step, dodging the bite, while his dagger swiftly slashed across the rat's head.

Theft is never good, try looking at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

-16

A red number appeared above the rat's head.

"Such high attack power!" The group was shocked by the number.

To deal 16 points of damage in one hit, you'd need at least 16 Attack Power, not counting the rat's Defense.

Though they didn't know the rat's exact Defense, it couldn't be zero.

16 Attack Power required 8 Strength points, and considering the rat's Defense, this person's Strength was likely over 10 points.

"No wonder he dares to act alone; he really has something," the tall leader muttered.

The Human Race's initial attribute cap was 10 points, so his attributes couldn't exceed 10 points. It was likely his talent had a Strength or Attack bonus.

As for the dagger, it was clearly a modern item, with no attribute bonuses, but it was definitely more convenient than using fists.

"Slap!"

Chen Mo slashed the rat, and its tail accurately whipped him again.

Chen Mo had considered dodging, but the tail was too fast; even if his mind wanted to, his body couldn't react in time.

-8

A bright red number appeared above Chen Mo's head, further depleting his already low health.

Seeing this, the tall leader frowned.

"Hey, your Health is low. You can't beat this rat like this. Let's fight it together."

"No need!" Chen Mo's answer remained succinct.

"Brother Fei, if he doesn't appreciate it, just leave him. Let's see how long he can last with that little health," a team member behind the tall leader grumbled.

"Yeah, if he can't handle it and dies, it's not our fault," another team member added.

"He's still a classmate; we can't just watch him die. Let's keep an eye on him, and if he can't hold on, we'll step in," Zhou Fei whispered.

"Alright."

While they spoke, Chen Mo and the rat had clashed several times.

Seeing Chen Mo's health nearing its limit, Zhou Fei and the others prepared to intervene.

However, at that moment, Chen Mo suddenly pulled a red potion from his pocket and downed it in one gulp.

Then, they saw a +10 green number appear above Chen Mo's head, and his health bar recovered a bit.

Soon, another +10 appeared above his head.

Chen Mo then shifted from cautious to aggressive, directly facing the rat's attacks and stabbing it repeatedly with his dagger.

-16

-12 (Bite)

+10

-16

-8

+10

-16

After three consecutive attacks, the rat's health bar was completely depleted, and its body fell straight to the ground, transforming into light that merged into Chen Mo's body.